Underneath It All
by Katerina Cullen
Summary: Based off of Beauty and the Beast. Bella is attacked one night in an alley, but a broken Edward comes along to help her. Will Bella be the one to save him or will he push her away because of his own difficult past? What does Edward have to hide? Lemons.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story is Rated M. It contains lots of naughty language, some violence here and there and of course lemons. In this first chapter, there is an attempted rape, but nothing really happens and it's not too graphic. **

**This story is slightly based off of Beauty and the Beast. I wanted to put a Bella and Edward spin on my favorite Disney story. Lol.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Twilight. I do however own the plot of this story, I just borrow Stephenie Meyer's characters and make them do things that they normally wouldn't do. **

**Underneath It All- Chapter 1**

**BPOV**-

"Hey Bella, can you make copies of this report?" Laurent, my boss, asked me.

"Sure, how many do you need?" I asked politely.

"I think thirty should do it. Thanks." He said and walked away and back into his swanky office, effectively dismissing me.

I sighed and grabbed the papers he laid down on my already paper laden desk and started walking.

See, normally, I wouldn't mind making copies, it got me away from my desk and the mass of boring paperwork I was forced to do everyday. But today, the elevators decided that they would stop working and my best friend Rosalie Hale managed to shove me into a pair of fire engine red four inch spike heels. Not an easy task, trust me. And the closest working copy machine happened to be five floors down, so now I had to walk down five flights of stairs. I wasn't happy.

I pushed open the door to the emergency stairs and began my descent. This fucking sucks.

I had made it down almost three flights before I said fuck it and took my shoes off. This is why I hated heels, you could never find a comfortable pair. Rose was always trying to make me wear them, saying that they looked more professional. I didn't understand why I needed to be professional, I was an assistant at a newspaper. Not the most glamorous and high brow job a girl can get. It thought that a nice pair of ballet flats were good enough, but Rose insisted that I always look my best. I would occasionally let her dress me up, the look on her face when I gave her free reign was like a kid on Christmas getting every single thing that was on their list. Today was one of those rare days, now the blisters on my feet were making me seriously regret it.

I finally, _finally_, made it down to the floor I needed and put my shoes back on (that shit hurts) and walked over to the copier.

I pushed all the buttons I needed and leaned against the wall as it did its thing.

I watched all the people around me do their work. All of them typing away on their computers to make their deadlines, running around to one meeting after the other, or taking their precious beaks.

God, how did my life become this? This boring, mundane, generic job, with my third floor two bedroom apartment that I shared with Rose. No friends, except Rose, but she doesn't really count since we've been friends since the 4th grade. At least I have a cat, good old Pandora, Pan for short. I got up in the morning at 7 o'clock, went to work from 8:30 until 4 o'clock, came home to sit on my couch, cooked dinner for me and Rose and went to sleep at 11 o'clock.

I didn't go out much, whenever I did it was because Rose dragged me out and I spent the entire time in some weird club, watching Rose dance with hot guys and have fun while I sat alone at the bar, downing drink after drink.

I lived the life of an old spinster and I was only twenty years old.

When I was in high school, I dreamed of going places, doing things; I wanted to go backpacking in Europe, cruise the Caribbean, climb Mt Everest, go on a safari in Africa. I didn't want to live like this so young, I was still a virgin for Jesus freaking Christ. I've had one boyfriend, Mike Newton, in high school when I was seventeen and we had just gotten to 2nd base before Charlie scared him off when he caught us making out on the couch. He waved his gun around so much the poor boy nearly wet himself. He never talked to me again after that and I was grounded for a week. Charlie nearly had a heart attack and my mom wanted to sit down with me and talk about how good a kisser the guy was. Ewww. First of all, Mike wasn't that great, and second, I didn't want to talk about _that _with my mom.

I rolled my eyes at the memories of my parents and pushed them away.

I figured that this would be what my life would be like in fifteen years plus a good husband, not as soon as I got out of high school.

I would have done at least one of those exciting things, but my parents had died only one month before my high school graduation. Rose thinks that that's what started my hermit lifestyle. I became depressed, I didn't even want to go to college anymore. But Rose pulled me up and made me put on my '_big girl pants'_, as she called it, and we went off to college together, but that quickly ended.

My parents, Charlie and Renee Swan, weren't exactly rich. So when they died, they only left behind about enough money to pay for one year of college plus enough for Rose and I to get an apartment together. You couldn't get much of anywhere with only one year of college under your belt, so I made the decision to pull out for a while to get a full time job so I could save up enough money to at least pay for one more year.

I wanted to become a writer, so I figured that the Seattle Tribune Newspaper was as good a start as any. The only thing was that they wouldn't hire me as a writer because of my 'lack of experience', so I got on as the bosses assistant. Yay me.

So here I was, an aspiring writer working for a newspaper and I wasn't even near a press machine or whatever it was they used these days.

The copier beeped, signaling that my copies were done. I gathered them up and readied myself for the climb back up.

Today was not a good day, thankfully, I only had one more hour until I got off.

That last hour flew by, I peeked into Laurent's office to see if he needed anything else before I left and when he gave me the go ahead, I packed my things up, turned off my computer and started for the stairs again, this time having to go down eleven floors. Awesome.

By the time I made it to my truck, an old beat up red 1953 Chevy (don't knock it, it's never failed me yet) I was huffing and puffing, with blisters on my feet the size of Texas. Rose wasn't my favorite person right now and when I got home I was going to call her and inform her of this.

I got to my apartment building and I thanked whatever god that was listening that the elevator worked.

I unlocked my door and practically threw it open, slamming it back shut when I was safely inside.

Pan was waiting on the arm of the couch to great me as always. She's always so reliable, never judges me about the fact that I never go out. Actually, I'm pretty sure she loves that I don't leave, all the more time she gets with me petting her. Greedy cat.

I settled into the comfy black leather couch and kicked my shoes off and across the room. Whew….goodbye torture devices.

I switched the T.V on and found an episode of House that I haven't seen yet and set the remote down on the table.

I wanted to call Rose, but my ass was firmly planted on the couch with Pan laying across me and I had no desire whatsoever to get up for the phone on the kitchen counter.

Ah, screw it, I'll call her later.

~U.I.A~

I jumped up, looking around me disoriented and confused about the ringing sound.

Oh shit, it was my phone. I must have fallen asleep on the couch.

I got up from the couch and stretched my arms above my head, walking over to grab the phone so that the annoying ringing would stop.

"Hello?" I answered sleepily.

"Belsha?" Rose's voice slurred through the phone.

"Rose? Jesus what are you doing?" I asked.

"I'ms out at a clfub." She stated. God, she was drunk. If she was already this drunk, how long had I been asleep?

I looked at the clock on the microwave, it said just a little after 1 o'clock. I slept way longer than I thought.

"Do you need me to come get you? You shouldn't be driving." I asked her. Rose didn't like cabs for some reason, whenever I asked her why, she said they were too dirty and the guys driving them were always creepers.

I thought she was on something, but whatever, sometimes you just have to humor Rosalie.

"Yesh plesh." She muttered.

She gave me the name of the club she was at and I grabbed my keys. This is what being Rosalie Hale's best friend was like, sometimes having to become her personal chaffer.

I walked out my apartment building and was immediately drenched. Just my luck, it was raining and I was only wearing a light hoodie. I huffed and started to run to my truck, hoping I didn't trip over something, or even my own feet. That can happen, I've done it a few times. I wasn't the most graceful ballerina in class.

I unlocked the door and hopped inside, turning the heat on and ringing my hair out. I stuck my keys in the ignition and turned it, but it did something my truck had never done in the four years that it has been mine. It stalled.

Huh, I turned the key again and it started right up. Must have been a fluke, probably 'cause I needed to take it into the car shop to get a tune up. _I'll have to do that Saturday_, I made a mental note and pushed it to the back of my mind.

I pulled out onto the road, trying to remember exactly what street the club Rose was at is on. I think it's on Mason and 76th.

I took a turn onto a back street, remembering that 76th street was only a few blocks away when my truck made this spluttering sound, jerked and died.

Fuck my life. You have got to be kidding me.

No, no, no, no. This is not happening. I turned the key; nothing. Not even a stutter.

Was the battery dead? Was one of the parts bad? I had no idea when it came to cars, about the most extensive thing I knew was how to check the oil and change a tire and it ended there.

I banged my head against the steering wheel repeatedly. Okay, it's going to be alright, I'll just call Rose on my cell and have her take a cab and pick me up on the way, her germ-a-phobic tendencies damned. She'll need to take a shower when she gets home anyway.

I reached for my purse in the seat next to me but just grabbed at air. I forgot my purse. I was still half asleep and rushing to get to Rose before something happened to her, I didn't grab it from the table in the entryway.

Shit, now what was I supposed to do?

Okay, I had this under control. The club was only a few blocks away, maybe six or seven, I could walk that. But, it was almost 2am and this wasn't the best part of town, but I had to do something, I couldn't just sit here all night. So I was going for it.

I grabbed my keys out of the ignition and took a deep breath.

_It'll be okay Bella, you just need to walk fast, be aware of all your surroundings, nothing will happen_, I tried to psych myself up.

I slid out of my truck into the now lighter rain and looked around, I couldn't see anything or more importantly, anyone, so I closed the door and started walking quickly. I had gotten to the end of the block and hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary as of yet, but the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up, so I kept looking around me nervously. It almost felt like I was being watched, but I wasn't too sure.

I kept walking until I heard something crash behind me, I jumped a foot in the air and turned around, almost falling. My breath caught in my throat and I froze when I saw the two men standing about 30 feet away. They were both dressed in dark clothing and looked to be more than 6ft tall, I couldn't see anything else because it was dark, but I knew that they weren't here to give me a hand.

_Fight or flight, fight or flight, fight or flight. _Flight.

I turned back around and started running for it, but I could hear the two men laugh and there was more clanging noises; they were chasing me.

Just a few more blocks and I'll reach civilization. Just a few more blocks.

I was about to turn a corner when something solid collided with me, sending me tumbling to the ground. I tried to scream, but a grimy hand was clamped over my mouth and I was turned around so I was laying on my back, staring up at one of the men that was chasing me.

This is not my fucking day.

"Ooooh, look what we got ourselves here." The man on top of me laughed. I tried struggling, trying to punch him or to kick him where it counts, but the other man had caught up by now and grabbed my ankles, holding them down to the ground and the guy on me grabbed both my wrists in one hand and pinned them down above my head, digging them into the rough pavement.

"Looks good, fine piece of ass we found here, man." The guy holding my legs down said. Ugh, I wanted to kick him in his face and hope I knock all his teeth out. Disgusting bastard.

The other guy on me didn't say anything, just took the zipper on my jacket and yanked it down, opening it up all the way. His hand immediately went for my right breast and started squeezing it painfully. I choked out a muffled sob against his hand and he just sneered at me and reached down towards his pockets. For a moment I thought he was about to unzip his pants, but his hand came back up with a pocket knife, waving it in front of my face.

"You make a sound, and I will slit your throat, you got it bitch?" He threatened.

I didn't say anything, just glared at him and I guess he took that as a 'yes' because he smirked at me and took the knife down to cut my shirt down the middle, revealing my blue lacy bra. His mouth attached itself to my neck, sucking hard enough to leave marks, I'm sure.

My eyes started darting around everywhere looking for something I could use to attack them with or someone walking by that I could scream to for help. There wasn't anything, of course no one is around, it's 2am in a bad part of town. Jesus I'm an idiot.

I swung my eyes back around to the man on top of me, but something caught my attention before I reached him.

On a fire escape there was a dark figure. It looked like another man, I couldn't really tell what he was wearing, but it looked like he had a hood pulled over his head.

Was he with these two men that were going to rape me? Was he someone who lived around here and was just watching on with morbid curiosity? Did he even care enough to try to stop them? By the way he was just standing there and staring, I didn't think so to that last question.

I tried to scream out to the person, but it was just muffled and the guy on top of me slapped me hard, jarring me and bringing my attention back to him and his pocket knife that was now currently pressed against my throat.

"What the fuck did I tell you, bitch?" He yelled at me, making spit fly in my face.

I cried out around his hand and he slid the knife past my throat and instead to my collarbone, bringing it down so it cut through the skin there like warm butter.

Surprisingly, I smelled the blood before I felt the pain, I hate blood, whenever I would see or smell it, I would get dizzy and pass out. I don't think this time was any different, my vision was already becoming fuzzy and my mind was mercifully slipping into unconsciousness. If this was going to happen to me, I'd rather not be aware for it.

That's when the pain hit me.

I screamed out again from the stinging pain and tears were now seeping out of my eyes and falling down my face, making my vision even fuzzier. I couldn't even see the man on me anymore. He had just started yelling at me again when suddenly he was lifted off of me like he weighed less than a gallon of milk, and thrown a few yards away from me.

I looked up, expecting to see the other man there, maybe he had changed his mind or he got mad at the other man about something, but instead I was surprised to see who I thought was the figure that I had seen on the fire escape standing a couple feet away. I didn't think he would help me, but thank God I was wrong.

I wiped at my face, trying to get the tears out of my eyes so I could be sure that's who this man was, but nothing was helping my vision, my mind was still slipping away into darkness.

The last thing I recalled was the strange man leaning over me and something brushed against my cheek; his fingers? I think he said something, but it was just garbled together and I couldn't understand him.

I didn't have any fight left in me, my entire body went limp and everything around me went black. Leaving me to dream about a mystery man that may have just saved my life or the very least my sanity.

**A/N: That was just the first chapter, I know it was a little short, but the other chapters should be longer.**

**Please leave me a review and tell me what you think. I'm not above begging for them. And just for extra motive, reviews equal teasers!**

**Also, do you want me to do the next chapter in BPOV or EPOV? I can do either one.**

**Thanks for reading! Remember- REVIEWS EQUAL TEASERS! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, soooooooooo sorry for not updating, I really fucking hate real life. My advise; don't get one. They're no fun and not very inductive in writing fanfics. **

**Anyways, one with the story. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight! I own nothing except my kitty. **

**EPOV-**

I hated this.

I hated the dark, the loneliness, the never ending silence.

It was all I had, unless I wanted to speak to Alice, and that wasn't always enjoyable. Don't misunderstand me, I love Alice but sometimes she could be too much to deal with.

She was actually why I was driving around these streets on my motorcycle at 1:30am. She came over unannounced and started talking nonsense about how things were going to change for all of us. Alice thought herself to be some sort of psychic. There were a few times when her predictions came true, so I never really discounted her 'visions', but sometimes they were just too far fetched for me to consider. Like her newest one. I got fed up with her trying to persuade me to believe her, I just huffed, grabbed my leather jacket, got on my bike and left my cottage.

Yeah, I said _cottage, _but really, it was more like one of those huge wood cabin in the middle of a ski resort. It was seven thousand square feet, two floors, five bedrooms, six bathrooms and everything else from a huge living room to a home theater. To most people on the outside, I lacked nothing. But to my closest friends (all of two people), I had nothing.

Nothing that really mattered.

My parents had more than enough money to buy it for me and leave me here in the middle of no where to hide away their shameful, broken son. The son that was once their favorite and could do absolutely no wrong in their eyes. Immediately after the _accident_, they shuffled me off here, came around once a month to make sure I was still alive and left again. I didn't care honestly, I never really liked my father, he was always so caught up in his company and grooming me to take over one day that he never thought about anything else. My mom on the other hand, I missed her some. When I was younger, she was the perfect mother; loving, happy, fun, caring, but as I got older, she became just like my father. Pushing me for good grades in high school, making sure I went to Dartmouth for a degree in business, never once asking me if all of it was what I wanted.

I was sixteen when I told them that what I really wanted to do was become a musician. I love my piano and guitar, I wanted to go to Julliard and make my dream come true, my father nearly had a stroke and started yelling that there was no way in hell he was going to pay for a school like that. He called it a 'slacker school', for those people that didn't want to do anything real with their life. I had looked to my mom for help. Surely she would help me because she always encouraged my music, saying that it was beautiful and I could really do something amazing with it, but she just sat there, staring at her hands and nodding her head whenever my father needed her to. It was disgusting. From then on I just gave up on them, and decided to go through the motions of the plan they had set up for me to go to college and as soon as I was done with it, I was going to bolt. I figured if I was going to run, I might as well wait until they paid for a decent education for me. That's the least they could do.

But then the _accident _happened. It was shameful to my parents and my father thought that I was no longer deserving of running his precious company and to my mom I wasn't her perfect, beautiful son anymore. So after I was healed enough, they bought me this penthouse, give me a monthly allowance of more money than I can spend and let me live my life however I want. Which was pretty much detailed of me moping around my apartment, occasionally being visited by Alice or Jasper (Alice's long time boyfriend and the closest thing to a friend I have). I sometimes take walks, but I waited until it was night time, I didn't want anyone seeing me like _this_.

I looked up, suddenly realizing that I had ridden farther than I planned to. I was at the back end of the city, all the warehouses where back here. I brought my notebook with me, wanting to get some writing done. I use it to write down songs and melodies that I could later use with my piano and guitar.

I slowed down, looking through the alleys and spotted a fire escape a few yards away on one of the old abandoned buildings and thought that it would be as good a place as any to sit for some private time. No one came around this part of town anymore, not unless they had a death wish.

There was an awning over the escape that kept the rain out. At least I could be dry, it was pouring out here and my leather jacket wasn't doing much for me anymore while I was riding through it.

I pulled my bike up under the fire escape, cutting the engine and climbing off.

I climbed up the fire escape and settled in. Not the most comfortable spot on the planet, but it was better than being cooped up with Alice and her talking about her visions.

I had lost track of time, going though pages and pages of my notebook, when I heard a crash. At first I thought it was a stray animal and didn't think about it any longer, too wrapped up in my music. Besides, it was too dark for anyone to see me up here, so I wasn't worried.

It wasn't another minute later when I heard a scream, my head snapped up and I caught sight of two men in the alley, they were both dressed in dark clothing. But the next thing I noticed had me gasping for breath. One of the men was on top of a girl. Yes, a girl. Not a woman, she couldn't be more than nineteen or twenty and from where I was, she seemed to be very pretty.

She was attempting to struggle with her attackers but wasn't having much luck.

Should I help her? Could I just stay here and watch this girl be attacked….raped? I had made it in one of my rules in life to never interfere with other peoples business, it always caused problems. But, could I let this atrocity happen in front of my face? My choice was made when she locked eyes with me. I knew that she couldn't see my face, but she could probably make out that I was here. I could see the fear and desperation in them, pleading with me to help her, to do something. She looked away a couple seconds later and I knew that she thought that I wasn't going to help, she just gave up.

I stood up and quickly made my way down the fire escape, practically jumping off of it. I picked up a wooden board and snuck up behind the man that was holding down her legs and drew it back, swinging it at his head like a baseball bat. He went down like a limp towel.

Now for the next asshole.

I swung again and hit him straight across his head, he started to collapse onto the girl, but I pulled him up by the back of his shirt and threw him a few feet away.

I looked back and forth to the two men, they were both out cold, they had probably been drunk to begin with. I looked down at the girl, she seemed to be close to unconsciousness, her eyes were drooping shut but she still managed to bring her hands up to her face and wipe away the tears I now noticed were falling down her face. I leaned down to her, not really knowing how to reassure her that I wasn't going to hurt her like those other men.

I brushed my finger down her tear stained cheek, trying to wipe it away.

"I won't let anyone hurt you, I promise." I said, hoping that she heard me. A few seconds later, her eyes closed and her entire body went limp.

I sighed, how was I going to ride my motorcycle with her passed out for the four to five miles to my cabin through the woods? I picked the girl up, jeez, she barely weighed anything, and carried her over to my bike, trying to figure out how I could make this work. I was about to say fuck it and just when Alice and Jasper pulled up in front of me in jaspers bright red Hummer.

_Completely not obvious_, I thought sarcastically.

Alice jumped out of the passenger side and came to open the passenger side back door, not saying a single word.

"Alice…how did yo-" I started to question, but she just put her hand up, cutting me off.

"Do you believe my visions yet, Edward?" She questioned cryptically.

I grumbled and climbed in the back of the car with the girl.

"Wait! What about my bike?" I asked her.

"It's okay, Jasper's throwing it in the back." Alice said, closing the door smoothly behind me.

_Throw _it in the back. I almost growled at her, but was stopped when the trunk door was opened and I turned to see Jaspers shaggy ass with my bike.

"It's okay, man. I won't throw it, I'll gently roll it into the back." He assured me.

I watched him like a hawk, all the while keeping the girl in my sights from the corner of my eye. It was a snug fit, but the back part of the Hummer/trunk was huge, so he made it work.

"Do you want to take her back to the house, or the hospital?" Jasper asked as he began driving.

"I want to take her back to the cabin, I don't think it's bad enough to go to the hospital." I said quietly, trying to cover up the real reason why I wanted to take her to the cabin.

Alice gave me a funny look, shrugged her shoulders and turned back to the front, watching the road with Jasper.

I gave a closer look at the girl. At first I noticed her injury, a large, bloody cut across the front of her shoulder, near her collarbone. I almost growled, that fucker was cutting her up with a knife.

I was stunned at the almost overwhelming protective feeling I have over her. I hated the thought of any harm coming to her, that wasn't normal at all for me. I'd never felt like that about anyone. I mean, I feel a little protective of Alice, but I trust Jasper enough to know that he won't let anything happen to her, so there isn't really any need for me to feel that way towards her. But this girl somehow brought out feelings in me that I never even knew I was capable of.

"Alice, do you have anything that I can use to stop the blood flow on her shoulder?" I asked her. I didn't think that my hand would do it. The cut was so deep it would probably need stitches.

"Yeah, here you go." She said, handing me back a scarf without looking back at me.

I took it from her and wadded it up and pressed it to her cut, hoping that it would slow down the blood.

In no time Jasper pulled into the garage on the side of the cabin and got out, helping me with the girl.

I carried the girl into the house, Alice holding open doors for me as I walked. Jasper stayed back to unload my bike from his truck.

"Edward, do you want me to stay and help you with her?" Alice asked.

"No, you can go ahead and go home Alice, I can take care if things here myself." I assured her.

"Are you sure Edward?" Alice persisted.

"Yes!" I snapped at her. I didn't mean to, but after everything that's happened I have a short temper with people, often lashing out when they got on my nerves or I became angry. I don't mean to lash out, I just can't seem help it. Trust me, I've tried.

"Okay, okay, jeez!" She held up her hands in surrender. "I just know that you don't do well with…strange people."

"I'm sorry Alice, I didn't mean to snap, I just want to do this by myself." I apologized.

She looked at me strangely before giving me a knowing look.

"Sure you do, Edward. Just don't do anything pervy and don't scare the poor girl. She's been through enough." She said and turned to walk back toward the garage.

I rolled my eyes behind her and closed the door behind her with my foot.

I wouldn't do anything pervy. Who did she think I was? The girl had just been attacked and nearly raped, I wasn't about to let my hormones lose on her and maul her like an insensitive bastard.

I carried mystery girl up the flight of stairs and down the hall into my bedroom and laid her across my bed, pulling the covers back. I checked her pulse and it seemed steady, but I needed to find something to stitch the cut on her shoulder with. I headed to my closet, Alice had put a sewing kit in here somewhere just in case I needed to sew a button back on a shirt or something.

Aha! Found it! I pulled the white and red first aid kit out from behind all the racks and made my way make over to the girl. I checked the cut on her shoulder, lifting the scarf up. The bleeding had slowed but it looked deep; it would definitely need stitches. This wasn't going to be fun.

Did I try to wake her up so she could take some pain pills? Should I just leave her unconscious and hope she didn't wake up halfway through it? I didn't know what to do and I didn't know anyone who knew either.

I thought about calling Alice, asking her if she knew what to do, but thought better of it, remembering my comment to her about being able to handle everything myself.

I figured I have a better chance of her staying unconscious and sleeping through it than trying to wake her up.

I ran into the bathroom, looking through my medicine cabinet until I found the rubbing alcohol. I pulled the needle and some thread out of the box, dipping the needle in the alcohol to sanitize it the best I could and threaded it through.

I moved around on the edge of the bed, trying to find the best position to do this in. I finally settled on my knees and leaned over her, pinching the cut together as gently as possible. I stuck the needle through one side, slowly pulling it through the other side. I repeated it six more times before I was finished, the whole time watching for any signs of her waking up. Thankfully, whoever was listening granted me the small favor of her not waking up yet.

I found a bandage in the bottom of one of my bathroom drawers and made sure that it was firmly taped to her shoulder, pressing it gently, making sure I didn't break the stitches I just put in.

Should I look for any more injuries?

_Yes_. She could be hurt somewhere else and it bothered me for some reason to think that she could have another injury that could turn into something more serious if I didn't treat it.

I reached down but hesitated at the hem of her shirt. I hadn't been around a lot of people for a few years, only Alice and Jasper, but Esme had taught me to be a gentlemen and despite my problems with my parents, I always knew that that was the one thing they had taught me that wasn't based off of selfish gain and I had always acted kind toward women, never disrespecting or taking advantage of them. Pulling up an unconscious girls shirt wasn't exactly gentlemanly of me.

I reasoned with myself that I was only doing it to check for any damage and I wouldn't lift it over her bra. That was okay, right?

I breathed in deeply and grasped the bottom of her shirt, slowly pulling it up her stomach inch by inch to reveal creamy smooth skin. Until I reached her ribs. The left side of her ribs were darkened by angry purple bruises. I ground my teeth together and reached out to gently feel to see if they were broken. They didn't seem to be, just severely bruised. She let out a pained whimper and her face scrunched up. I yanked my hand back quickly and waited for her eyes to open and start screaming, but she never did.

After a few seconds, she settled back down into a peaceful sleep again.

I looked back down at her ribs, making sure that was the only bruising there and pulled her shirt back down. I softly ran my hands down her arms to check for anything else and saw the same purple bruises that were across her ribs, wrapped around her wrists.

Anger surged through my veins.

_Those bastards_. If I ever saw them again, I'd kill them.

I clenched my eyes shut and breathed out deeply, calming myself. I didn't need to get angry right now, I had to focus on this girl, not get lost in one of my tempers again.

The bruises on her ribs ad wrists would hurt, but they would fade. And I was pretty sure she wasn't hurt anywhere else.

Now what?

I looked down at her, she looked relaxed, almost peaceful. A complete contradiction to just an hour ago.

Her hair was splayed out against the pillow, her face turned to the right side, facing me, and her lips were slightly parted. Her face was pale and with the moonlight shining through the window she seemed to almost glow. She looked beautiful.

Her beauty made me feel even worse; someone like me shouldn't be in her presence, I shouldn't taint her in any way. But I was unable to look away from her. Something had crept into my chest and settled there, pushing me to ensure she was safe, that she was comfortable in every way.

It made me feel….unsettled. I had never had this feeling before, nothing even close to it. So I had no idea how to deal with this. It was confusing as hell.

I ran my hands through my hair and sighed, trying to figure out what to do now.

I should probably just let her sleep, she has to be exhausted and overwhelmed, sleep would give her some form of escape for a while.

I moved to get up and walked toward the window that overlooks the small lake on the property. The moonlight reflecting off it, making it seem like glass. I became lost in thought about her. What was I going to do with her? She couldn't stay here for very long, I didn't want her to see my face. I never liked it when people saw me, I knew what they were thinking; that I was a freak, that I was no longer the son my parents wanted. I didn't want her to look at me the same way.

I heard mumbling and my head instinctively snapped toward her, not remembering to shield my face. Before I could panic that she had seen me, I saw that her eyes were still closed, her face was scrunched up and she was jerking around.

She was having a nightmare.

I took a couple tentative steps closer, trying to hear what she was mumbling about.

_Should she be moving around like that with her injuries? _

"Stop….no…get off….help…." She was muttering, her face tilting back and forth almost violently against the pillow.

I wanted to sit down next to her and try to comfort her in some way, but I didn't know how. What could I possibly do?

Unfortunately, I was saved the confusion of making the decision.

Her muttering stopped suddenly and her eyes snapped open, looking around her frantically. I remembered myself and quickly pulled my hood over my head, shielding my face in shadow.

The girls eyes finally found me in the darkened room, staring at me like a dear stuck in headlights.

I realized that she probably thought I was one of the men that attacked her and she didn't know where she was.

I hesitated speaking to her, but it was only for a second as I saw the shear and utter fright on her face, her eyes even tearing up. For some reason, I couldn't take it and decided to explain myself to her.

"I… I won't hurt you. I'm not one of those men, I saved you and brought you back to my house. It's okay." I tried to reassure her, I couldn't tell if it was working or not. She still looked petrified, not taking her eyes off of me.

"Are you okay? Are you in any pain?" I asked her softly.

She didn't say anything, still staring at me with wide eyes.

"Please say something, anything. I need to know if you're in pain, I have some medication I can give you if you are." I urged her.

She shook her head violently at me and pushed herself back further into the bed, almost like she was trying to move as far away from me as possible. Can't really blame her.

I saw her wince and took a step toward her, to see if she had injured herself, but she shot up and scurried backward and pressing against the headboard, letting out a whimper. She looked like a scared animal; small, perfectly still and wide eyed, but still managing to stay adorable. I wanted nothing more than to calm her, but from her reaction of me even taking a step toward her, that wasn't going to happen.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." I apologized.

Again, she said nothing. Why wasn't she speaking? Was I really that scary? I guess the hood covering my face wasn't helping to put her at ease, but seeing the face under it might be even scarier.

She opened her mouth slightly, but closed it quickly, like she had wanted to say something, but thought better of it.

"It's okay, I promise I won't hurt you." I tried to get her to speak.

She bit her lip so hard I thought she was about to chew it off and looked around nervously, her eyes darting around everywhere.

"D-did they…r-r-rape me?" She whispered. I almost didn't hear her.

My heart cracked at the vulnerability and fear in her voice.

"No, I stopped them before they could." I reassured her.

"Will you…..hurt me…?" She asked, her voice cracking.

"No! No, god no! I swear, I won't harm you!" I almost yelled, appalled at the thought of hurting this girl in the way that those men were going to.

She moved away at the loudness of my voice, but seemed to believe that I wouldn't hurt her.

"Are you in pain? I have some pain pills." I told her again.

"My ribs hurt a little." She whispered tentatively.

I nodded my head, but I wasn't sure if she could see, and walked slowly so not to startle her again to the bathroom. I opened the cabinet and found a bottle of Tylenol. I took the bottle back to the room and pulled out two pills, handing them to her slowly. I made sure not to touch her, dropping the pills into her outstretched palm. She snapped her hand back to her chest and was still looking at me apprehensively.

"I'll go get you some water. I have to go downstairs to the kitchen to get it, I don't have a cup in the bathroom. I'll be back in a minute." I explained to her and backed out of the room.

I almost ran down the hallway and the flight of stairs.

I was in the kitchen, filling up a glass of water for her when I faintly heard someone coming down the stairs.

What was she doing?

I immediately dropped the glass in the sink and ran to the stairs, seeing that she was already off them and running (more like limping) down the hallway to the front door.

If she left, she'd just hurt herself more. That was the reason I was telling myself that I couldn't let hr go through that door, but there were other reasons in the back of my head; Something about this girl was drawing me in and I didn't want to watch her run out the door and never come back.

She had just reached the door and was fumbling with the locks when I caught up to her. I ran right up behind her, grabbing her arms, pushing her up against the door slightly. She let out a terrified squeak and I felt bad for scaring her like this, but I needed to get her back upstairs and calmed down.

She surprised me by turning out of grasp and faced me, her right hand making a claw and heading more my face.

_Shit, this wasn't going to go well for her. _

I grabbed her hand before her nails managed to make contact with my face, easily pinning down to her side. I grasped her other hand, pinning it as well.

"Let me go!" She screamed at me, struggling as much as she could considering her injuries.

"I'm sorry, but I can't. You're still hurt, if you leave now, you'll just en up hurting yourself more." I explained, trying to keep her from hurting herself.

"I want to go to a hospital!" She yelled in my face.

"We're in the middle of the woods, there isn't a hospital around here for dozens of miles, you'd be better off here." I told her as calmly as possible.

"Let me go, let go….let go….." She whispered, trailing off and slumping into my arms.

I looked closer at her and realized that she had passed out.

I sighed, shaking my head as I carefully maneuvered her so I could carry her back up to my room.

_This was going to be a long night. _

**A/N: This chapter was all about Edward, if you couldn't tell. **

**I know, it wasn't much, next chapter will move along with the storyline more. **

**What do you think the **_**accident **_**was? Tell me what you think in a nice little review, please. **

**I'll give a teaser out for reviews. You know you wanna push that button down there, go ahead, Edward wants you to. **


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